diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 382f9ab57..20b303dc6 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -47,6 +47,7 @@ details about the cause of the failure
 -   floating point values passed from Python are no longer silently truncated
 when .NET expects an integer [#1342][i1342]
 -   More specific error messages for method argument mismatch
+-   members of `PyObject` inherited from `System.Object and `DynamicObject` now autoacquire GIL
 -   BREAKING: when inheriting from .NET types in Python if you override `__init__` you
 must explicitly call base constructor using `super().__init__(.....)`. Not doing so will lead
 to undefined behavior.
@@ -69,6 +70,7 @@ One must now either use enum members (e.g. `MyEnum.Option`), or use enum constru
 -   BREAKING: Names of .NET types (e.g. `str(__class__)`) changed to better support generic types
 -   BREAKING: overload resolution will no longer prefer basic types. Instead, first matching overload will
 be chosen.
+-   BREAKING: acquiring GIL using `Py.GIL` no longer forces `PythonEngine` to initialize
 -   BREAKING: `Exec` and `Eval` from `PythonEngine` no longer accept raw pointers.
 -   BREAKING: .NET collections and arrays are no longer automatically converted to
 Python collections. Instead, they implement standard Python
diff --git a/src/embed_tests/Codecs.cs b/src/embed_tests/Codecs.cs
index a87b287bc..c9e83f03a 100644
--- a/src/embed_tests/Codecs.cs
+++ b/src/embed_tests/Codecs.cs
@@ -473,7 +473,7 @@ public DecoderReturningPredefinedValue(PyObject objectType, TTarget decodeResult
         }
 
         public bool CanDecode(PyType objectType, Type targetType)
-            => objectType.Handle == TheOnlySupportedSourceType.Handle
+            => PythonReferenceComparer.Instance.Equals(objectType, TheOnlySupportedSourceType)
                && targetType == typeof(TTarget);
         public bool TryDecode<T>(PyObject pyObj, out T value)
         {
diff --git a/src/embed_tests/TestPyObject.cs b/src/embed_tests/TestPyObject.cs
index fa5fa38c7..2f27eba1b 100644
--- a/src/embed_tests/TestPyObject.cs
+++ b/src/embed_tests/TestPyObject.cs
@@ -94,6 +94,13 @@ public void GetAttrDefault_IgnoresAttributeErrorOnly()
             );
             Assert.AreEqual(Exceptions.TypeError, typeErrResult.Type);
         }
+
+        // regression test from https://github.com/pythonnet/pythonnet/issues/1642
+        [Test]
+        public void InheritedMethodsAutoacquireGIL()
+        {
+            PythonEngine.Exec("from System import String\nString.Format('{0},{1}', 1, 2)");
+        }
     }
 
     public class PyObjectTestMethods
diff --git a/src/runtime/InternString.cs b/src/runtime/InternString.cs
index a479f3732..0780a0bb8 100644
--- a/src/runtime/InternString.cs
+++ b/src/runtime/InternString.cs
@@ -39,7 +39,7 @@ public static void Initialize()
             {
                 NewReference pyStr = Runtime.PyUnicode_InternFromString(name);
                 var op = new PyString(pyStr.StealOrThrow());
-                Debug.Assert(name == op.ToString());
+                Debug.Assert(name == op.As<string>());
                 SetIntern(name, op);
                 var field = type.GetField("f" + name, PyIdentifierFieldFlags)!;
                 field.SetValue(null, op.rawPtr);
diff --git a/src/runtime/Py.cs b/src/runtime/Py.cs
index 7a2369413..4f3fbf6d4 100644
--- a/src/runtime/Py.cs
+++ b/src/runtime/Py.cs
@@ -10,15 +10,7 @@ namespace Python.Runtime;
 
 public static class Py
 {
-    public static GILState GIL()
-    {
-        if (!PythonEngine.IsInitialized)
-        {
-            PythonEngine.Initialize();
-        }
-
-        return PythonEngine.DebugGIL ? new DebugGILState() : new GILState();
-    }
+    public static GILState GIL() => PythonEngine.DebugGIL ? new DebugGILState() : new GILState();
 
     public static PyModule CreateScope() => new();
     public static PyModule CreateScope(string name)
diff --git a/src/runtime/PythonTypes/PyObject.cs b/src/runtime/PythonTypes/PyObject.cs
index e26831490..e0a17bed5 100644
--- a/src/runtime/PythonTypes/PyObject.cs
+++ b/src/runtime/PythonTypes/PyObject.cs
@@ -1056,6 +1056,7 @@ public PyList Dir()
         /// </remarks>
         public override string? ToString()
         {
+            using var _ = Py.GIL();
             using var strval = Runtime.PyObject_Str(obj);
             return Runtime.GetManagedString(strval.BorrowOrThrow());
         }
@@ -1072,7 +1073,11 @@ public PyList Dir()
         /// Return true if this object is equal to the given object. This
         /// method is based on Python equality semantics.
         /// </remarks>
-        public override bool Equals(object o) => Equals(o as PyObject);
+        public override bool Equals(object o)
+        {
+            using var _ = Py.GIL();
+            return Equals(o as PyObject);
+        }
 
         public virtual bool Equals(PyObject? other)
         {
@@ -1101,6 +1106,7 @@ public virtual bool Equals(PyObject? other)
         /// </remarks>
         public override int GetHashCode()
         {
+            using var _ = Py.GIL();
             nint pyHash = Runtime.PyObject_Hash(obj);
             if (pyHash == -1 && Exceptions.ErrorOccurred())
             {
@@ -1135,12 +1141,14 @@ public long Refcount
 
         public override bool TryGetMember(GetMemberBinder binder, out object? result)
         {
+            using var _ = Py.GIL();
             result = CheckNone(this.GetAttr(binder.Name));
             return true;
         }
 
         public override bool TrySetMember(SetMemberBinder binder, object? value)
         {
+            using var _ = Py.GIL();
             using var newVal = Converter.ToPythonDetectType(value);
             int r = Runtime.PyObject_SetAttrString(obj, binder.Name, newVal.Borrow());
             if (r < 0)
@@ -1234,6 +1242,7 @@ private static NewReference GetPythonObject(object? target)
 
         public override bool TryInvokeMember(InvokeMemberBinder binder, object?[] args, out object? result)
         {
+            using var _ = Py.GIL();
             if (this.HasAttr(binder.Name) && this.GetAttr(binder.Name).IsCallable())
             {
                 PyTuple? pyargs = null;
@@ -1258,6 +1267,7 @@ public override bool TryInvokeMember(InvokeMemberBinder binder, object?[] args,
 
         public override bool TryInvoke(InvokeBinder binder, object?[] args, out object? result)
         {
+            using var _ = Py.GIL();
             if (this.IsCallable())
             {
                 PyTuple? pyargs = null;
@@ -1282,6 +1292,7 @@ public override bool TryInvoke(InvokeBinder binder, object?[] args, out object?
 
         public override bool TryConvert(ConvertBinder binder, out object? result)
         {
+            using var _ = Py.GIL();
             // always try implicit conversion first
             if (Converter.ToManaged(this.obj, binder.Type, out result, false))
             {
@@ -1307,6 +1318,7 @@ public override bool TryConvert(ConvertBinder binder, out object? result)
 
         public override bool TryBinaryOperation(BinaryOperationBinder binder, object arg, out object? result)
         {
+            using var _ = Py.GIL();
             NewReference res;
             if (!(arg is PyObject))
             {
@@ -1419,6 +1431,7 @@ public override bool TryBinaryOperation(BinaryOperationBinder binder, object arg
 
         public override bool TryUnaryOperation(UnaryOperationBinder binder, out object? result)
         {
+            using var _ = Py.GIL();
             int r;
             NewReference res;
             switch (binder.Operation)
@@ -1463,10 +1476,8 @@ public override bool TryUnaryOperation(UnaryOperationBinder binder, out object?
         /// <returns>A sequence that contains dynamic member names.</returns>
         public override IEnumerable<string> GetDynamicMemberNames()
         {
-            foreach (PyObject pyObj in Dir())
-            {
-                yield return pyObj.ToString()!;
-            }
+            using var _ = Py.GIL();
+            return Dir().Select(pyObj => pyObj.ToString()!).ToArray();
         }
 
         void ISerializable.GetObjectData(SerializationInfo info, StreamingContext context)

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